Blaze being built as a more relatable character (than Sonic) and her being built as a heroine are separate qualities, though. And I don't think there are many relatable heroes in Sonic, girls or otherwise (but especially girls). I didn't really grow up with girls who played Sonic, but I do remember girls using mostly Blaze avatars in Sonic forums back in the day. Could also be because she was the most recent character too though.
Blaze and Amy are very different characters in what they accomplish because they played very different roles. Blaze is (or was I guess) a very independent character, who's personality and motives don't involve Sonic that much. While he does play a large role in her character development, it's her interactions with other characters like Cream and Amy herself that also benefited her growth. And as mentioned, she doesn't have anywhere near as much baggage as Shadow, so she's a lot easier to digest to the casual audience. Plus she's an excellent foil for Sonic; yes he has a million no-nonsense foils, but I think she's the fully realized version of it, hence why she's compared to Knuckles a lot. A lot things Knuckles does, Blaze just does them better imo. My only real gripe is that there's very little conflict with them past their introduction. Amy though is written to be much more like a supporting character than an independent character. Even nowadays when she's written to be much more on an even playing field with Tails and Knuckles, they collectively are generally treated as Sonic's supporting cast. Readers just find characters who can stand on the same level as the protagonist but aren't subservient to them, much more interesting than the opposite. Its why despite Blaze being irrelevant for so long, she still has a prominent fanbase or why despite how much controversy surrounds him, Shadow is still considered a breakout star. There is an argument to be made though that since IDW has so many fleshed out female characters and Amy is written to be much more competent nowadays, Blaze doesn't really stand out much anymore and it doesn't help that Sega don't really seem interested in using her at all besides a cameo here and there. Yea, Rush did an amazing job of establishing her character, but that was almost 20 years ago. Makes sense newer generations wouldn't quite understand what makes her special when she's treated like any other character in the series. Tails, Knuckles and Amy get to be Sonic's primary supporting cast while Shadow endures through sheer popularity (and a little Creator favoritism).
Amy did independent hero work in SA1, that's what her story is all about. She could have absolutely branched off from there if Heroes didn't go and fuck things up.
Every women I knew who played sonic were attached to one of the male characters with more emotionally complex stories, like Shadow or Silver. Not much love at all for Blaze in particular. Everyone I knew that liked her was a dude.
Amy's story in Sonic Adventure is a side story. Her primary involvement in the main plot is simply getting Eggman the Chaos Emeralds to empower Chaos and giving Sonic & Tails a reason to board the Egg Carrier. After that, Amy leaves the main plot entirely to branch off to another story that, while interesting in its own right for her character, is completely divorced from what Sonic is doing. Blaze's story in Rush is the main plot, the entire narrative revolves around everyone trying to understand her and get her to open up to them, and her motivations are front and center alongside Sonic's up until their clash are Deadline and when they ultimately come together in the True Ending. Its a distinction that Blaze is framed as a Deuteragonist, while Amy has never really been framed as such, at least until like Frontiers. And that's only specific to one island.
I thought Amy was too dependent and too involved with whatever Sonic is doing. And now I guess the inverse being the case in SA1 is a problem of her character in its story? You've lost me. I don't understand how any of this makes Blaze better for girls or even really necessary to get more girls' attention anyway. Blaze and Amy are both independent in their own right. Is Amy too vestigial to Sonic in certain games? Yeah maybe but so is Blaze. Loved her as 'girl who jumps around then says a limp joke at Sonic' in Generations.
They're not the same argument. It's not a problem of her character. Amy being able to do stuff on her own or not is orthogonal to whether the stuff she can (or not) do is central to the story. Now why Blaze would be important to girls or not, I don't know. I assume that kind of representation is valuable, even if there are other valuable characters.
The stuff she can do is central to her SA1 story though? Does her story not count as a story because it's not Sonic's? I'm still lost.
Well. The fate of the world isn't stated to directly hinge on Amy's character growth in SA1; the fate of the world is directly stated to hinge on Blaze's character growth in Sonic Rush. It doesn't make Amy worse or lesser or less appealing. It makes their position in their respective games different, though. I believe that was @Sonic5993's point. If it isn't his, it's mine at least.
I wasn't really speaking about if they're good girl representation or not because that wasn't my point. I was just illustrating the different roles they played and how and why some might prefer one over the other. I don't care whether you think Amy is better than Blaze or vice versa, but their treatment in their respective narratives is completely different, which colors people's perceptions about them.
Blaze is popular because Sonic Rush kicks ass and she's a cool character. IDW characters wish they could be so effortlessly cool.
Sonic has had a boatload of "cool" characters over the years, some of which came out around the same era. Neither Espio, Omega, nor Silver received the kind of reception she did. Not even Shadow, among older fans. If she were male, she would've been dismissed as a soulless clone of either Knuckles or Shadow. Yes, her gender is significant. Whether it's the sole factor of her popularity is debatable, but it IS significant. I don't understand why people here are so offended by the idea that it is, as if that somehow makes her character less valid or it's "political". A lot of Knuckles's popularity has to do with fans seeing him as being black. It goes deeper than just them being "cool", and there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm gonna say, I don't think Blaze is anywhere near as popular as y'all are describing her to be, at least any more significantly so than the rest of the cast. Her debut games are almost two decades old and she hasn't had any significant appearances since outside of being multiplayer fodder. I highly doubt anyone that didn't grow up playing Sonic Rush even knows who she is as the games don't really highlight her at all and she hasn't had any appearances in any major alternate media. Comic books are niche and hardly have the widespread appeal of say, a Netflix series. I don't think I've seen a single child who has Blaze merch, but I've definitely seen far more merch for Sonic, Shadow, Knuckles or Tails.
You may like them, I wasn't commenting on whether or not I like them. I was saying she is effortlessly cool. Her design, her moves, etc etc are all stylish and cool. Omega is not cool in the same way, and he and Espio are always part of larger ensemble casts with them being mostly sidelined for other characters. Shadow is massively popular and always has been, old heads who don't like green eyes notwithstanding. Blaze is a main character right along Sonic for two well received and memorable games, something very few characters ever got to do. I didn't say it's less valid or political, you're correct in that Blaze is very feminine and her personality/story would be weird coming from a male character especially in 2005. Also she'd be naked if they made her male and her outfit is really sick and massively important to her visual design. Point being, she is so entrenched in being a female character it's impossible to gauge how she would do if she was male because it wouldn't be Blaze anymore. In fact I could say roughly the same for all of the female characters in Sonic, maybe not IDW I don't know much about it, I got bored and stopped picking up issues.
My issue is people would put the emphasis specifically on the action of rolling and building momentum through rolling" more so than the fact Sonic interacted with terrain often presenting features or mechanics that are viewed as making that element specifically less emphasized or what-have you. It's a distinction I think is important. As for the rollercoaster aspect, I don't think the statement was in particular war referring to terrain interaction rather than just the sensation of the ride so to speak. The latter of which doesn't even really strictly need "physics" let alone rolling physics to be achieved, even if I would say It's probs the best way to do it, if limiting. .... Okay. How about: "Sonic Drift 1 and 2 are good handheld spinoff games and the OVA is overrated". "For as much of a mess the game is, Sonic 06's reputation has less to do with how bad it is on a technical level or even as an playing experience, and more to do with fandom politics at the time." Heroes Amy was Amy at her peak.
